Here is why inspectors awarded Sunderland's Yummy Kitchen takeaway a zero food hygiene rating

A Sunderland City Council food safety inspector carried out an assessment at Yummy Kitchen, on Villette Road, on Thursday, March 24.

Following the visit, the health officer judged the venue to have a zero star food hygiene rating.

A zero star rating is at the very bottom of the scale for food hygiene ratings and means “urgent improvement is required”.

When carrying out an assessment, inspectors look at three main areas that include hygienic food handling, management of food safety along with cleanliness and condition of facilities and building.

This is what the environmental health officer found when inspecting Yummy Kitchen on March 24, 2022.

High risk foods stored at room temperature

According to the report, the inspector found that cooked chicken and other high risk foods were stored at room temperature on a kitchen island unit.

The report states that these foods will support the growth of bacteria that can cause food poisoning and that they must be kept at or below 8°C.

Food was being reheated more than once

The environmental health officer discovered that gravy was being reheated in a pan for service and then left to cool at room temperature before being reheated again for the next several services.

It states that “cooling food down at room temperature presents ideal conditions for food poisoning bacteria to grow” and recommends that hot food which is to be cooled before storage or sale, must be cooled as quickly as possible before being placed in the refrigerator.

Greasy walls, storage tubs and cleaning products

The inspector found that wall coverings and splashbacks were in a greasy condition, as well as storage tubs used for storing food.

The bottles of cleaning products that were available at the takeaway were also in a dirty and greasy state.

The safety officer recommended these need to be thoroughly cleaned to avoid any risk of cross contamination.

Dirty floors throughout the takeaway

It was noted in the report that the floor covering in the premise was dirty, especially at the floor/wall junctions and behind or below equipment.

The officer has stated that the business needs to “thoroughly clean the floor and maintain in a clean condition”.

Lack of monitoring important food safety issues

In the report, the food safety officer commented: “Although you have listed the food safety hazards associated with your business and appear to have some controls in place, it is not clear how these are being monitored at critical control points."

The inspector recommended that the monitoring needed to be put in place should be simple and focused on important things like “ensuring that food is stored, displayed or cooked at the right temperature” and that “ready to eat foods delivered to the premises are in good condition”.

Management at the Yummy Kitchen were told that evidence needs to be provided that the business is monitoring such procedures and that they should be able to explain the chosen method of monitoring.